I’m headed to Portland next week for the GFKAS launch. Here’s the press release:

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ANDREA ZITTEL LAUNCHES NEW PROJECT, GROUP FORMERLY KNOWN AS SMOCKSHOP

THE GROUP FORMERLY KNOWN AS SMOCKSHOP

(Portland, Maine) The Portland Museum of Art will be the launch site for Andrea Zittel’s new project, The Group Formerly Known as Smockshop (GFKAS), on September 11, 2010 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., as part of SPACE Gallery’s outdoor art and music festival, BLOCK PARTY, with support from the Quimby Colony. GFKAS members will be creating and selling rectangular shaped products on the patio in front of the Museum. GFKAS is an artistic enterprise that generates income for artists whose work is either non-commercial, or not yet self-sustaining and includes artists from Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Berlin, and South Portland.

The GFKAS project succeeds Smockshop, a similar endeavor in which artists produced over 300 simple double wrap around garments, as reinterpretations of Zittel’s original design. Zittel’s work is internationally recognized, exploring all aspects of day-to-day living. Clothing, food, and furniture all become the sites of investigation in an ongoing endeavor to better understand human nature and the social construction of needs.

Based on the practice of Zittel (who believes that “rules make us more creative”), the new line of products begins with a simple dictate to create a rectangular product or “panel”— which each artist in the collective then interprets according to his or her own skills, interests and special talents. These rectangular designs, which vary from garments to accessories to household items, and printed projects, all have the capacity to contract and expand, morphing from single surfaces to fully functional objects.

In the spirit of the BLOCK PARTY, GFKAS will expand the physical presence of the Portland Museum of Art into the community by presenting the project in an outdoor exhibit and sale on the patio in front of the museum. GFKAS members or “panelists” Tiprin Follet, Peggy Jo Pabustan, and Karen Gelardi will be manufacturing products on site. The public is invited to witness the making process as well as view and purchase finished products.

The GFKAS project launch in Portland is made possible by the collaboration of SPACE Gallery , Portland Museum of Art, and the Quimby Colony, a new nonprofit urban artist residency program. Quimby Colony is sponsoring the visiting artists and hosting them at their artist residency building on Congress Street.Page 2 The Group Formerly Known as Smockshop

Andrea Zittel trained at San Diego State University and Rhode Island School of Design. Recent solo exhibitions include Galleria Massimo De Carlo, Milan, Italy, Sadie Coles HQ, London, England, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY, Museum of Con- temporary Art, Los Angeles, the Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria, New York and Schaulager, Basel.

SPACE GALLERY INFORMATION SPACE is a nonprofit, multidisciplinary gallery and performance space in the heart of the arts district in Portland, Maine. SPACE presents contemporary, emerging and unconventional arts, artists, and ideas.

MUSEUM INFORMATION The Portland Museum of Art, Maine’s largest art museum, showcases fine and decorative arts from the 18th century to the present. From Winslow Homer and Andrew Wyeth to Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet, the Museum features three centuries of art and architecture.

The Museum is located at Seven Congress Square in downtown Portland. Hours are: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday. The Museum hours will be extended to 9 p.m. on Saturday, September 11, 2010 for BLOCK PARTY. Memorial Day through Columbus Day, the Mu- seum is open on Monday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Museum admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and students with I.D., $4 for youth ages 6 to 17, and children under 6 are free. The Museum is free on Friday evenings from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., made possible through the generous support of L.L.Bean and Patricia and Cyrus Hagge. No admission is required to visit the Museum Café and Store. For more information, call (207) 775-6148 or visit portlandmuseum.org.